A Night at the Opera
by mcfassavoy
Summary: It is up to Clary, Jace, and the rest of the Shadowhunters to foil yet another plan hatched by Valentine. But this time, they seem to be desperately outnumbered. And can Clary still keep a hold on Jace when all it seems they can do is fight? [post City of Ashes] Clary/Jace. Clary/Alec.
1. Chapter 1

Clary choked back sobs as she tried to plead with the demon.

"Please," she said. "Please. Don't hurt him." She was weaponless and alone. "Take me instead!"

The others would never find them down here. The Iblis demon didn't reply. It only stared at her, its cold dead eyes burning yellow as its claws closed around an unconscious Jace's throat. The demon tightened its grip, and Clary let out a shrill scream.

* * *

"Give that back. Now!"

Clary tried to reach across the kitchen table but fell a few inches short. She was trying to wrestle her sketchbook out of Alec's hands but was failing miserably.

"Ooh, let's see what we have here," said Alec teasingly, a wry smile on his face. "Been drawing a lot of boys have you? Blonde boys, with wings." Clary blushed. "Now, I wonder who that could be?" Clary was grateful that Jace wasn't in the kitchen of the Institute, having gone with Maryse to answer a call from the Clave. It had sounded important, but Maryse told her and Alec to stay put

"Stop it, Alec."

"Hey, no need to get touchy," said Alec, still smiling as he slid the sketchbook back across the counter. "Glad to see you're no longer mad at golden boy," he winked. Clary and Jace had fallen out earlier that week about who would get to use the training room. Clary said she needed it more, because she was still a rookie Shadowhunter. Jace said that her training could wait, and besides all of the weapons in there were dangerous for a novice like her. Then she called him some unpleasant names and he'd been ignoring her for days. Today he seemed slightly more civil

"I wasn't mad. He's just so stubborn sometimes."

"Well he's nothing if not stubborn," said Alec, taking a swig of his glass of milk.  
Footsteps approached the kitchen. Clary whirled around. It was Isabelle.

"Mom says she wants us in the library," she said.

"Ok," said Alec.

"_Now_," she replied.

Alec got up. Isabelle looked at Clary.

"You too."

"Me?"

"Is there anyone else in the room?" said Isabelle. Clary was confused; Maryse Lightwood wasn't exactly as welcoming on the information front as the others when it came to Shadowhunter business. She still thought of Clary as just Jocelyn's kid. Just a kid. That made Clary angry. Maybe now she'd have a chance to prove herself.

Alec, Isabelle, and Clary made their way to the library, followed on their heels by Church, who was meowing malcontentedly and getting in everyone's feet. Alec accidentally trod on Church's tail, and the cat gave out a deafening yowl. Alec said soemthing incomprehensible, and Clary couldn't help but laugh.

Jace and Maryse were waiting for them in the library. Maryse was sitting at the desk, writing a letter, her face taut and thin. Jace was curled up in one of the armchairs reading a book. His gold flax hair hung in curtains over his face. He needed a haircut, thought Clary, _again_.

Maryse looked up as they came in. "Finally," she said impatiently.

"What is it?" asked Alec. "Did you hear from the Clave?"

"No, we were just having a friendly chat with the Silent Brothers about where the best Steakhouse in New York is," said Jace, his tone full of sarcasm. Alec threw a dirty look his way.

"Yes," said Maryse, ignoring Jace. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" Clary asked. She felt almost like an intruder, standing here amongst them all, but curiosity got the better of her.

"It's The Mortal Instruments."

"What about them?" asked Isabelle.

"It's Valentine," said Maryse, her voice grave and gravelly, uttering the word Valentine with clear disgust. "He's after one of them."

"You mean he's looking for the mirror?" asked Alec. "But...we knew that already."

"Of course know _that_, you dimwit," smiled Jace.

"Jace!" Maryse cut in. "This is clearly not the time to make jokes."

"Sorry, _Mom_," said Jace, intoning the heavy sarcasm on the word Mom, but his smile died as soon as he saw the look on Maryse's face.

"There's another one," said Maryse.

"_Another_ Mortal Instrument?" asked Clary. "Besides the Cup, the Sword, and the Mirror?"

"Yes," sighed Maryse wearily, as if this whole goose chase was becoming too much for her. "And the Clave thinks Valentine knows where it is, and is going to attempt to retreive it tonight."

* * *

**Author's Note: This is the first chapter! Please let me know what you think! Lots more to come!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"A _fourth_ Mortal Instrument?" asked Alec, flopping into the armchair next to Jace, who slid the book he had been reading into Alec's lap.

"It's all here," said Jace, pointing out the illustration from the book. Clary and Isabelle gathered around Alec's armchair to look. Clary sat on the arm of the chair, opposite Jace, who shot her an indecipherable look.

"The Instrument is a crown?" asked Isabelle. It was a medieval crown, brightly decked with jewels. But the middle jewel was the largest and the brightest, a glittering emerald.

"It's the Jewel," said Maryse. "Its powers and properties are unknown to the Clave, but it is said to give its owner immense and incredible sight. I'm not sure what that means, but, and I don't even have to tell you this, it is vital that it does not fall into Valentine's hands"

"How come they hadn't heard about it until today?" asked Clary.

"They have," said Maryse, "but it was considered long lost after a war in which Alfred the Great, the last known owner of the crown, lost it."

"And now they've found it?"

"Yes," said Maryse, "it's here. In New York."

"In my pants," said Jace, and winked, muttering something about family jewels. None of them laughed, except for Isabelle who stifled a chuckle. Clary gave him a dark look.

"What?" Jace said, looking at her.

"Maryse is right, Jace," Clary said, "this is _really_ not the time to be cracking jokes."

"Oh lighten up, people!" said Jace. "It's gonna be a piece of cake. I can find that thing today, by myself, _and_ still have time to grab some takeout from Taki's." He seemed so strangely calm, thought Clary. Didn't this even bother him? Another Instrument would mean more power for Valentine, which would mean more attacks and reprisals on the Shadowhunters. If he got his hands on it first they would definitely be in deep trouble.

"I don't think so," said Maryse, still as serious as ever.

"Where is the Jewel now?" asked Alec.

"With Senator Richard Kelly," said Maryse. "Actually, it's with his wife. She wears the Jewel in a brooch that doesn't leave her side. It seems to be a family heirloom, which is particularly precious to her."

"And how do we know all this?" asked Isabelle.

Maryse continued. "The Conclave heard about an attempted attack on the Senator and his wife several days earlier. They were unsuccessful though, thanks to the Senator's army of bodyguards."

"Really?" asked Alec skeptically. "The Senator's bodyguards took down Valentine's demons?"

"Stranger things have happened," said Maryse, in a weary tone, as if she had seen and heard so much that nothing suprised her any longer. "We are fairly certain he's plotting another attempt as we speak. The Senator's home is currently being guarded by Shadowhunters. There's too many of them for the demons to initiate an attack, but the Shadowhunters can do nothing to keep the Senator and his wife from leaving their house."

"So what's going to happen?" asked Clary, not sure that she followed.

"The Clave thinks Valentine will attack in a public place. Even out the playing field."

"Is the Senator making any public appearances?"

"Yes," said Maryse. "We just got a call from Briar and Mace, who are stationed in and around the Senator's house."

"And where will he be?" asked Isabelle.

Jace snatched the book from Alec's hand and closed it shut.

"Hey!" said Alec. "I was reading that!"

"He's going to the—" started Maryse but was cut in by Jace.

"Hope you like clowns, Alec," said Jace, smirking at him. Alec winced. Clary knew he had a phobia for clowns ever since he was little. "Big, fat, singing clowns." The grin on Jace's face was almost maniacal.

"They're going to the _CIRCUS_?" asked Alec, looking incredulously at his mother.

"The opera," corrected Maryse. "_Pagliacci_. Tonight, at eight."

"Well, we'd better get ready then," said Jace, getting up, and pinching Alec on the cheek, who, Clary noted, looked positively seasick. "Where's my tuxedo?"


	3. Chapter 3

Clary was putting on her makeup in the mirror of one of the Institute's spare rooms. _Why did Jace have to be like this?_ Making bad jokes, snide remarks, completely ignoring her except to rebuff what she said...

She sighed. Maybe, just maybe, Jace had always been like this. Except in the past she had found it endearing, or even funny. But she was getting tired of this person, this hollow, twisted person that he had seemed to become. He was even being mean to Alec. Alec had defended her during one of their many arguments in the past week, and Jace had suddenly turned on him and said that if he was so protective of her, that he might as well be her brother instead. Then he had stormed out of the room, and left Clary in near tears. Was this what brothers did? Make you hate them so much that you _actually _ended up hating their guts? If that was the case, then Jace was succeeding. But the truth deep down was, she didn't hate Jace. Not even close.

The door opened. Clary looked into the mirror at the reflection of the door. It was Isabelle.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey yourself," said Clary, whirling around. She came out of the bathroom and sat on the bed. "What's up?"

"Listen, I don't know what's going on with Jace, but you're going, and that's final. Mom said so."

"Thanks," said Clary. A fight had broken out _again _back at the library, and this time the issue was whether or not Clary would go. Clary wanted to go, and as usual, Jace wanted her to stay. His go-to arguments were that it was too dangerous, and that he, Alec, and Isabelle were far more experienced. Clary said she wasn't a child to be told what to do, and Isabelle defended her. And finally, the most ridiculous thing Jace had said, was that she didn't have Shadowhunter gear. So what if Clary didn't have the gear? That didn't stop her from saving everyone on that boat. In fact, she liked to bring it up whenever she could, when Jace doubted her capabilities. Or was he so afraid of her getting one single scratch? What did he think she was made of, porcelain?

"Hellooooo?" Clary snapped out of her angry reverie to realise that Isabelle was waving her hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, Iz," she said.

"Whatever. Hey, look. I got you these." And Clary realised that Isabelle had her hands behind her back. She pulled them out, in a blur of black, and dumped the contents unceremoniously on her bed.

It was Shadowhunter clothing. There were long pants made of leather-like material, a black v-neck t-shirt, and a black jacket. There were also shinguards and some pretty fierce looking boots.

"For me?" asked Clary, stunned. She was wearing her green t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. True, she felt really out of place when she was dressed like _that_, and the rest of them, including Maryse, were dressed so nice. But she didn't care, as long as she got to go.

"Some of it might be too big on you," said Isabelle, "but we could roll up the pant sleeves."

"Thanks, Izzy. Wow. My own gear," said Clary, beaming a wide smile with all her teeth flashing. For a minute there she felt overwhelmed, like she finally belonged to something or someone. She felt like family, she felt like —

The door flung open. Jace.

"Jace, Jesus," said Isabelle. "Can you learn to knock?"

"That's very flattering, Iz, but I only go by 'Jace' now," he said.

"What do you want?" said Isabelle, in the same icy tone as when they'd argued in the library.

"Actually, I want to talk to Clary," he said, looking at her.

"Ok. Talk," Clary said, averting his gaze.

"No. Alone."

Isabelle glared at him, and hesitated, before saying "Fine." Before closing the door, she looked to Clary and said, "I'll be in my room, if _this jerk_ is giving you any trouble." Jace rolled his eyes.

"Ok," said Clary. "And thanks for the stuff."

"No problem," she said, and shut the door.

Clary finally looked at Jace. He was frowning, but she sensed that this time his anger was directed not at her but at something else.

"What is it?" she tried to say in as casual a tone as possible, but the desperation in her voice was clear.

"You're going?"

"Yes," she said. "You'll have to chain me to the wall if you want to stop me."

"As much as I'd enjoy doing that, I won't stop you, Clary," he said, his voice all business. He made a step toward her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, and didn't have anywhere to move, but would have taken a step back if she could. He kneeled down in front of her, so their eyes were level. His molten gold eyes were scanning her face, and it made Clary uncomfortable. "You're like a little child," he said, "there's no use telling you not to do something because you'll go and do it anyway."

"I'm not a child!" said Clary, fury in her voice. "And Jace, be honest. Why do you want me to stay so bad? Because you're worried I'll get hurt? Or because you're worried what'll happen to _you _if I get hurt?" Jace didn't answer, he just looked at her, eyes big as saucer plates, biting his lower lip absentmindedly. "Because you can't bear to live with yourself, if I died, is that it?"

He didn't say anything. Instead he continued to stare at her in that distant, deer-in-the-headlights stare, which made Clary confused, and she felt like shouting _WHAT? WHAT IS IT? _at him. He moved his face closer to hers, and Clary's heart sped up faster than a racecar at the Daytona 500. She could feel his breath on her face, cool and minty, as if he had just brushed his teeth. Clary's face was one of horror, her brows furrowed in confusion and her eyes open wide, but all her brain seemed to be screaming out was _come closer! closer!._

Then, suddenly, he pulled back, as if snapping out of a daydream. He stood up and walked to the door, his back to her. "You always think the worst about me, don't you, Clary?" His voice was low. He sounded hurt, not angry. "I'm not a monster," he said, and shut the door behind him.

_Great_, Clary thought. Days of endless, dumb fighting, and now this. The one thing she had wanted, ever since that day when they went to Taki's, and he had told her that he was just going to be her brother, was to get along. She thought, if I can't have him, at least I can be around him, we can laugh, and joke, and tease each other and do the stupid things that brothers and sisters do. And maybe someday, with all the years between us, when we know every embarrassing and horrible thing about one another, I'll no longer think of him as _the one_, but just as a brother. Nothing more, nothing less.

But what just happened? What was all that about? Why did he nearly kiss her, then pull back, as if reminded at the last minute of what it was he had been doing? Did he _actually _try to kiss her, or had it been something else, and her delirious mind just imagined it that way?

Clary was upset and hurt, but above all she was confused. That mixture created one foul mood, and now all she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and sleep. The last thing in the world she wanted was to go to an Opera with Alec, Isabelle, Maryse…and Jace.


	4. Chapter 4

There was a knock on her door. It jolted Clary awake. How long had she been asleep? She looked to the window; the sun had set a long time ago. Clary looked down; she was wearing the Shadowhunter gear Isabelle brought her. There was another knock, and a familiar voice.

"Clary, are you ready? Can I come in?" It was Alec.

"Yeah," Clary stuttered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She sat up in bed, pulling the covers off.

The door opened and Alec walked in. Clary looked him up and down, and couldn't believe her eyes. She did a mock wolf-whistle, and Alec laughed.

He was wearing a black suit and bow tie, his hair slicked back and a small red flower in his breast pocket. A sword was sticking out of his back, fastened with a strap across his chest. When he saw what Clary was wearing though, he frowned.

"I thought you said you were ready!"

"I am!" said Clary incredulously, fingers pointing down at the boots in a _See-what-I'm-wearing? _gesture.

"Not the Shadowhunter gear, Clary. We're going to the opera, remember? As in, we've been formally invited."

"Wait, we're actually going?" asked Clary. "You mean we're gonna sit there and watch _opera singers_ while demons close in all around us?"

Alec rolled his eyes, as if to say _I can't believe I'm wasting my time explaining this to you_. "The demons aren't going to attack out in the open. Which is why it will be best for us to stay close to the senator and his wife. We've got tickets and everything," he said, pulling them out from his inner pocket.

"Well," said Clary, taking the tickets from his hand and examining them. "I'm impressed."

"Did you listen to _anything_ Mom said in the library?"

"Uh…yeah," said Clary, not sure what he was on about. There was an awkward moment; a silence, a beat — and then Alec broke out laughing.

"Clearly not," he said, still chuckling. "Okay, go find Isabelle ASAP. She'll help you out with this, and we can go."

Clary nodded, and turned to leave. She moved to open her bedroom door but Alec beat her to the doorknob, and their hands brushed. Clary moved hers back quickly, blushing, and let Alec open the door for her. They slipped out of the room and down the hall together

* * *

The Met Opera was one of the more formidable and impressive looking buildings in New York. The outer facade was entirely glass, every floor in all its decadence and opulence could be seen, an amalgamation of warm golds and stark reds. A circular fountain worked its magic near the entrance. As they walked past it, Clary remembered seeing it when she was younger, exploring Lincoln Square with Luke.

Once they were inside the main lobby, Clary had to crane her neck to see to the top. A massive starburst chandelier hung four floors directly above them, with smaller starbursts hanging here and there. They reminded Clary of sparklers on New Year's eve. The staircase in front of them split into curved, twin staircases, resembling the claws of a crab. At the top of the staircase was a bronze sculpture of a woman kneeling.

The lobby was abuzz with activity. Men and women, all dressed in suits, ties, and evening wear, were milling about. Clary understood now why they were dressed the way they were. Maryse looked absolutely stunning, Clary thought, her hair in a tight bun and wearing a loose black velvet dress. She herself wore a velvet floor-length emerald green dress, which dragged on the floor when she walked, but it was either that, or expose the Shadowhunter boots. Her hair had been done up in two braids and pinned, criss-crossed close to her head. Her eyes sparkled and she wore bronzer that made her freckles and cheeks glow — courtesy of Isabelle and her miraculous makeover powers. But Isabelle herself, of course, completely stole the show. Her hair was in a single, twisting braid down to her waist, her eyes sparkling, a black choker around her neck. She wore a white lace dress that unfurled in layers, and dragged on the floor with a beautiful train. Alec _did _say it was rather over the top, but that was when Isabelle revealed that the cloth was light and easy to rip, when the time came to do so. Even Maryse laughed, obviously proud of her pragmatic daughter. All three of them, Maryse, Isabelle, and Clary, wore long sleeves to hide the runes that they had just recently been marked with.

Jace and Alec were dressed identically, in suits and bow ties. Alec's hair was slicked back but Jace's was not, his golden hair falling down and framing his face in the glow of the starbursts. Clary thought how impeccable and put-together he looked when he tried, when he wasn't wearing another jumper or t-shirt with holes in it. _But to be honest, I don't care what he wears, as long as I know what's underneath._ Then Clary looked away, quickly, so Jace wouldn't catch her staring at him. He said she looked nice, when she and Isabelle had come out of Isabelle's room together, but Clary had pretended not to hear. They had shared a very silent and tense car ride to the Opera.

"Let's find our seats, shall we?" said Maryse, and beckoned her children to follow. They walked up the curving, red carpet draped steps, Clary very carefully trying not to step on her dress — _or anyone else's_. It seemed like she was in some kind of fairytale, like the time she dreamt of that beautiful white hall with its Mermaid fountain, and dancing with Jace, and Alec had been there too, and…

"Careful!" said Jace, grabbing her arm as Clary tripped and nearly fell flat on her face. An elderly couple at the top of the stairs observed her with mild curiosity. Clary blushed a beet red. Well, that definitely snapped her out of the fairytale reverie. After all, she knew what it was they were there for. And there would definitely be no dancing tonight.

Their seats were in a side balcony two floors up, on the Grand Tier. Isabelle, Clary and Maryse sat in the front, whilst Jace and Alec took the seats directly behind. Everyone else in the grand hall was taking their seats, there was a hubbub of noise and activity, although slightly quieter than the lobby had been.

"Where's the Senator?" Clary asked Maryse. She said nothing, only tilted her head in their direction, right across to the other side. Isabelle had been looking through a small pair of opera binoculars, and when Clary gestured she handed them over. Clary looked through, trying to be surreptitious so they wouldn't catch on. She saw a bulky, broad-shouldered and grey haired man with an air of importance that could only be the Senator. Next to him was a striking forty-something brunette, slim, and wearing a bright red lipstick. _This must be the wife_, Clary thought. There was a small, but brightly shining jewel on the tweed suit dress she wore, close to her collar. _The emerald._

"Why are they so far away?" asked Isabelle.

"Yeah," chimed Jace. "Couldn't we get tickets any _farther away?_ Like, say, in Brooklyn?"

"We can keep an eye on them like this," said Maryse. "Would be far too conspicuous if we had the balcony next to theirs and just kept our necks craned in their direction, wouldn't it?" She had a point, Clary thought.

"What? Keep an eye on them? I thought we were going to watch the opera!" said Jace, mock indignantly. "These tickets cost a pretty penny, didn't they? And Alec is just _dying_ to see this, aren't you?" But Alec didn't say anything.

Clary looked back at Alec. He was looking down at his feet, and she could tell something was making him uneasy.

"Alec? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, looking up at her. His piercing blue eyes seemed to water, but there were no tears. Clary turned to face the front. _Weird,_ she thought.

The lights suddenly dimmed and the noise in the room fell to hushed whispers. People were still taking their seats, but it seemed like the show was about to begin. The massive gold damask curtain pulled back to darkness onstage. A spotlight illuminated the podium in the middle of the pit where the conductor was to stand. Applause broke out once the orchestra players came onstage, and one final wave of applause for the conductor, even some whistles and whoops. Once the applause died out, the music started to play, very faintly and slowly at first. Maryse leaned in to whisper to Isabelle and Clary.

"Remember girls," she said. "We're here to keep an eye on _them_."

The girls nodded. Clary snapped to her senses. She was getting so enchanted and carried away by it all. She must keep her eyes on the Senator and his wife.

But it was the person sitting next to them, who she hadn't noticed earlier, that stopped Clary's breath, and made her stomach churn violently. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Sitting next to Senator Kelly and his wife, wearing a tuxedo and looking utterly relaxed and composed, was Valentine.

And it seemed he, too, had caught her eye in exactly that moment. Clary nearly screamed, but instead she jerked violently backwards, falling off her chair and hitting her head, the whole place going dark around her.


	5. Chapter 5

_Clary…Clary…_

_She heard someone call out to her, someone familiar, but she couldn't tell who. She felt like she was deep underwater, in a warm embrace, floating and dancing with water angels. Arms were pulling at her, not harshly, but gently. She let herself be pulled, down, down into the murky depths…_

"Clary!"

She felt water on her face, and spluttered. Two faces came into focus before her. Alec and Jace. She was crumpled in a heap on the floor, and Alec had been shaking her. Jace held an empty cup of water, looking concerned.

Clary wiped the water off of her face. She sat up.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"The Met Opera," said Jace. "Or what, did the fall erase your memory too?" He smirked. "Great 'cause then we can start all over. Hi, I'm Jace, Shadowhunter and demigod—"

"The fall?" said Clary absentmindedly. Then it all came back to her. _Valentine! _

"Valentine!" she said.

"What?" asked Alec.

"I saw Valentine! Next to the Senator. He was sitting there!"

"Amnesia _and _dementia," said Jace. Alec glared at him.

"He wasn't there, Clary," said Alec. "Don't you think we'd have spotted him first thing?"

"I…I guess," she said. Maybe she had hallucinated after all. Maybe she was expecting to see him so badly that she imagined it. It would make sense.

"Are Isabelle and Maryse still in there?" she said looking towards the door across from them.

Alec nodded. "We needed _someone _to stay keep an eye."

Clary looked at Jace. The worry was gone from his face, replaced by a coy sort of amusement. As if he found this whole thing funny.

"Don't even start, Jace," she said.

"What?" he said, in an accusatory tone.

"You're gonna tell me how you should've left me at the Institute, that you saw this coming, that you knew I'd freak out." Clary bit her lower lip.

"I didn't say anything!" said Jace, now smiling, but Clary could tell that was _exactly _what he wanted to say. "In fact, I think this has been a false alarm, and we can all go home now and play Scrabble. Domino's might still be open."

Alec laughed. "Are you kidding? The show's just started. We've got another two hours here _at least."_

Jace groaned. Clary felt embarrassed and let down, by herself. _We only just got here and I can barely keep myself together. I can't believe I fainted. I need to be stronger. For everyone. _

She made to stand up, stumbled slightly, still a bit wobbly and shaky. Alec helped her up.

"Thanks, Al—"

She didn't get to finish. A muffled scream emanated from behind the door. Then a lot of tumult and noise at once. Clary, Jace, and Alec ran towards the door, Alec pushing it open.

The sight before them was one of utter chaos. The golden curtain, which had come down for the first intermission, was completely engulfed in flames, licking their way up the cloth. The people down below were a mass of hysteria, screaming and running and all flinging themselves at the door. The people on the upper levels weren't doing any better.

"What happened?" Alec yelled to Maryse, trying to make himself heard over the din. Clary could smell the burning and the smoke, and her eyes started to water.

"We don't know," Maryse yelled back, "everything was fine one minute, then suddenly this."

"Mom!" yelled Isabelle. "Look!" She was pointing at the balcony across from them, where the Senator and his wife had been. Only his wife wasn't there anymore. The Senator looked just as bewildered as Clary and the rest of the gang. Maryse came to her senses, her Shadowhunter's instinct taking over suddenly.

"Let's go," she said, and ran out of the compartment. They followed her. Running out, they joined the mass of people trying to exit the building. She turned down a corner, and then down another. _Where are we going? _thought Clary. Instead of running towards the exit, they seemed to be going deeper inside the building. They went through a door marked Staff Only. At the end of a long corridor, there was an empty staircase. Maryse flew down the stairs, followed on her heels by Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and finally Clary. They reached the ground floor, and Maryse called out to someone Clary didn't know.

In almost an instant they were surrounded. A dozen or so Shadowhunters emerged, all with the same looks of apprehension on their faces.

"Maryse," said one of them, acknowledging the elder Shadowhunter. "We can't seem to find any demon activity." He was holding a Sensor, which seemed to be very still. Jace and Alec were clutching their Seraph Blades, ready to name them at any moment. Clary didn't have any weapons, which she regretted now. She felt for the stele inside her pocket, her mother's stele.

"They have to be here," said Isabelle. "Who else could it be?" Isabelle, she saw, was dressed differently. Somehow between their flight from the upper levels to here she had managed to tear the train off her dress. It was very short now, reaching down to her knees, her black boots visible. Clary wished she could do the same, the green velvet dress dragging almost to her ankles.

"We've searched all the levels. There's nothing," said the Shadowhunter. Maryse scowled. "One of our men went to find the source of the fire. The actors that were being evacuated are saying it was an accident."

Maryse muttered something under her breath.

"What did you say?" said the Shadowhunter.

"I said it can't be," said Maryse. "An accident? It's far too big of a coincidence."

"Maybe that's what he wants us to think," said another Shadowhunter. "So we can all go home."

"The Senator's wife was missing. If she was taken then the Senator and his bodyguards will still be looking for her," said Maryse. She looked over at a pair of Shadowhunters. "Go and find them."

The two of them retreated. Maryse opened her mouth as if to say something, but before she could, the building shook, and a flash of blinding light pierced through the semi-dark basement.

A massive gaping hole, at the other end of the room where a boiler stood, opened. And out from it poured black shapes, many of them, too many for Clary to count.

She recognised them. Scorprios demons. Angry yellow eyes, teeth like broken needles, and hissing loudly. Their arms were huge like monkey hands, and they had stinger tails. The venom was deadly. Their tails swished ominously back and forth, and they charged at Clary and the others.

"_Abrariel!" _Jace shouted, and his Seraph Blade leapt to life, glowing blue. The rest of the Shadowhunters did the same.

Clary realised that she was weaponless. Jace looked at her, and realised the same.

"Clary! Get behind me!" He yelled. Not in the mood to argue, she went to stand behind him.

The demons charged at the Shadowhunters, and a melee broke out. Isabelle snapped the tail off of one using her whip, and Alec was slashing at them left and right. He got a particularly cumbersome one that wouldn't die, and when he knelt to drive the blade through the demon he nearly missed the stinger of another. Jace leapt to his aid, slashing at the demon as it spit venom everywhere.

"Don't touch the venom!" yelled Maryse, to nobody in particular, but Clary felt it was aimed at her. She dodged this way and that to avoid them. She looked to the portal that had opened. The demons kept pouring in. They were doing a fair job at slaying most but soon they would be outnumbered.

Clary looked around her, and in a moment she seemed to lose Jace. She backed up away from the fighting, away from the demons. This was a cowardly thing to do, she thought, but she couldn't help it. Without realising it, she backed herself into a corner, just as a demon was closing in on her. Her fingers were gripping her stele very tightly, but she didn't know what she could do with it. Was there a rune that killed demons?

The Scorprios demon's monkey arms grabbed Clary and pinned her to the ground. She couldn't breathe. Just as it was about to bring its stinger down on Clary, there was a flash of a blade and the demon turned to ash and dust. Behind it stood Jace. He helped her up.

"Jace!" called Maryse, swinging at a demon that nearly got her in the back. "Get Clary out of here!"

It was written clear on Jace's face that the last thing he wanted to do was leave. He never retreated from battle. Even when the odds weren't in his favour, he would stay and fight to the end. Reluctantly, he grabbed Clary's arm, and said, "Let's go."

Clary felt awful as they ran from the basement together. She gave one last glance behind her at the fighting, at Isabelle who was slaying demons so gracefully and beautifully. _The way I wish I could_. And at Alec, who was helping a Shadowhunter who got knocked down to his feet. _He's so heroic. They all are_, she thought. _I wish I could be one of them. But I know I'm not. I know I'll never be._ She felt Jace pulling her hand, and she ran alongside him, even though she didn't want to, because she knew _he _didn't want to. And she could feel that he was starting to resent her presence just that little bit more.


	6. Chapter 6

"Where are we going?" said Clary, out of breath, as she followed Jace down the twisting corridors. Their hands were interlinked, but more out of a reluctance on Jace's part to let go if anything, as if the moment he did she would go running back into the melee. Which, Clary thought, was exactly what she wanted to do. She really hated how predictable she was sometimes.

"I don't know," he replied.

Despite the circumstances, Clary couldn't help herself. "What, Jace the Magnificent is lost? How's that even possible?"

"Shut up Clary," said Jace, stopping abruptly. Clary couldn't stop herself and slammed into him. She looked mortally wounded. "I'm trying to think," he said, a slight apology in his tone, but still very blunt. He felt so rigid, Clary thought, standing there next to him. But she didn't get to muse much longer. "Come on," he said, yanking her hand once again and pulling her off into yet another corridor. Clary wondered when this would end. It was almost like torture. _He doesn't want me here_, she thought. _I can sense it. I should've stayed home, —shit, why didn't I listen to him? _

They came through a set of double doors onto a narrow curtained passageway. At the end of the passageway was the stage.

The gold curtains had been all but eaten away by the fire. There was smoke residue and a lot of harsh chemicals in the air. Clary choked and spluttered, and she could see Jace's eyes watering from it. There were several firefighters on the stage as well. They noticed Clary and Jace.

"Hey, uh, you kids supposed to be here?" asked one of the firefighters.

"Of course they're not supposed to be here, dumbass!" said another.

"I thought we evacuated everyone?" said a third.

"Here," said the first one again, offering his hand to Clary. "Just take my hand and we'll get you out." Clary was confused, and she looked to Jace. He looked just about ready to give them what for, being treated like that and called kids. But his countenance suddenly contorted into one of fear, his eyes wide in terror.

"Clary, don't!" he yelled. Just as the firefighter was about to take her hand, Jace bodyslammed into him, knocking the firefighter over. Clary was about to ask what in the world was wrong with him, when the firefighter, lying on his back, spluttered and made gargling noises. Jace sprang up. Black bile started to pour out of the firefighter's mouth.

"Get back, Clary!" he said, and she dazedly obeyed. _What in the world is going on, _she thought. The firefighter's mouth expanded to an inhuman size as the black smoke…thing…Clary was unsure what it was, drifted out of him. It began to take shape. A massive staggering creature, with a forked tongue, sharp, needlelike teeth, and hollow eyes took form. Clary looked to the other three firefighters, and the same was happening to them. Clary sidled over to Jace. They didn't have to exchange words. She knew. Demons.

"These are Eidolon," said Jace. "There's too many. I don't know if I can fight them off." That was the first time she had heard Jace say those words. _I don't know. Too many. _It sounded grim. They only had the one seraph blade between them, glowing blue and ready to attack. Suddenly one of the demons disappeared, and when Jace whirled around it had reappeared behind him. He struck down the blade but missed, the demon again un-forming and re-forming several feet to the left.

There was a second one that made its way over to Clary. Panicking, she drew out her stele. _Think, think, think, _she thought to herself. What could she do to save them both? Could she draw a rune for conjuring weapons? She tried, she visualised a weapon forming in front of her, drawing what seemed to be the appropriate rune. The stele didn't glow. It didn't work.

Jace managed to stab the other demon, but a second one had crept up behind him, toppling him to the floor and knocking the breath out of him.

"Jace!" Clary yelled, but the demon that was closing in on her was only inches away. If only she could…if only…

_Barrier. _The word fell into her head. She got to work fervently drawing runes and outlines, visualising a barrier running around her and Jace to keep out the demons. She felt the stele glow blue, and drew even faster. Suddenly, the demon closing in on her stopped. It could get no further. The same thing happened to the three demons closing in on Jace. They moved in on him but drew back as if blocked by invisible glass.

She ran over to him.

"Jace! Jace, are you alright?" She touched his chest, and could feel his hollow breath rattling.

"I'm…fine," he sputtered.

"You sound like you've broken a rib or something," said Clary, concerned.

"I feel like it, too."

"Jace, the healing rune…" Jace looked up at her and nodded. This time, she knew what to do. She pulled his shirt up, as a healing rune drawn closer to the heart would make the body heal faster. She could see splotches of blood on his chest, as if he'd been hit by a shotgun loaded with rock salt. She drew the _iratze _as close to his heart as she could. He winced slightly from the pain. When her work was done she quickly looked up. The barrier was still in effect, the demons ambling about aimlessly. It seemed as if they couldn't see them anymore, either.

Suddenly, with a unifying _hiss_, the demons drew away from the invisible barrier and gathered together further downstage. Clary watched them. The curtain at the far end backstage split open. It was Alec.

"Alec!" Clary yelled. But he didn't seem to hear. Face bloodied and hair matted, he realised he had run straight into a trap as the four demons circled all around him.

"Alec! Over here!" Clary yelled, louder this time, and waving her hand, even though there were only several feet between them. Jace was staggering to get up to his feet.

"I don't think he can hear us," said Jace. Clary made to move forward but was bounced back by the invisible barrier. "ALEC!" She screamed again. But Alec couldn't hear them. The boy who had sacrificed so much for them, who would go to the ends of the earth and back, looked all alone and petrified.

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**A/N: Been gone for a while but now I'm back. Please let me know what you think! Reviews give me warm fuzzies :) :3**


	7. Chapter 7

"Alec! Over here! Alec!" Clary was frantically waving her arms, trying to get his attention. But it was no use.

The demons danced precariously in a circle around him. All of a sudden, they shape shifted, into the most terrifying, blood-thirsty clowns Clary had ever seen. She knew what this meant for Alec, as she saw the boy go from scared to downright petrified. All the colour had drained from his face, as he grasped his seraph blade, hand shaking.

"Jesus," said Jace, who even in all the teasing and taunting over Alec's coulrophobia, looked a bit frightened. The clowns had razor sharp teeth and gave off an emanating stench of rotted blood that Clary could smell even with the barrier between them.

She didn't have much time. Clary concentrated all her powers on undoing the rune, just as she had created it. Jace was concentrating all of his on body slamming into it.

"Jace, stop!"

"What, you got a better idea?"

"I'm trying to undo it."

"Well do it fast. _You_ should know. You put it up there in the first place," he said, as if it had been some great hindrance to him.

"Yeah, to save you from dying!" said Clary, She decided not to rise to his taunts, instead focusing herself on the rune she was drawing with her stele. _Undo. Retract. Delete. Barrier. Vanish. Disappear. _She could tell from Jace's efforts to push through that this wasn't working.

Meanwhile, Alec was locked in a losing battle with the demons. Four on one was hardly ever a fair battle, and especially when those four happened to be from your deepest darkest nightmares . Clary tried a third time, and this time it worked, as Jace fell right through.

One of the clown-demons had Alec's hands pinned behind his back, on his knees, while a second one looked as if about to tear his throat out with its teeth.

Jace reeled from having the barrier vanish right under him, but recovered to standing position in a split second. In the time it took Clary to look up from her rune, he was already at Alec's side, slashing the attacking demon in two.

Alec looked pleasantly dumbfounded.

"Where'd you come from?" he said to Jace.

"Does this look like time to talk?" replied Jace, fending off another attack. "Remind me what part of this makes you think we're sitting in Starbucks having a casual chat."

Alec snorted a half reply, but one of the demons cut him off. Clary felt so helpless just standing there, watching the two of them, unable to contribute. The other three demons seemed a lot more reluctant to die than the first. Jace and Alec were slashing equally at all three, the _parabatai _working together, back to back, just how it should be. It was probably the worst moment to get sentimental, but Clary felt a surge of warmth, like this was how things were meant to be. They were _brothers. _

"Clary!"

"Shit, Clary!"

The boys cried in unison as Clary came to her senses. But before she looked up, a black shape was on top of her, clawing at her face.

She tried to fend it off by covering her face with her arms, but the demon slashed at her, painfully. She felt the sting, imagining the oozing red lines on her arms.

"Clary! Here!" Jace yelled at her, but she couldn't see him. All she could see was the weapon he had slid her way.

The demon was pinning her down with all his weight, but she grabbed it, and used the seraph blade to tear through the demon.

It gave a hiss and subsided, vanishing into ash. But as soon as it had gone, another had taken its place. This one moved far too fast for her. She swung this way and that, — and bumped into a body.

Clary whirled around. Alec.

"Why is it moving so fast?" she asked.

Alec didn't answer her. Instead, he said. "Clary, don't move. Just do as I tell you." His voice was commanding and serious, not that Alec wasn't usually serious enough, but this time he sounded downright oppressive.

"Ok," said Clary. They were standing back to back. Clary was breathing hard and fast. The fighting took all the strength from her. Her arms stung and swelled.

"Now when I tell you," said Alec, "exactly when I tell you, _duck. _If you don't, you'll die."

Clary nodded, realised he wouldn't see that, and mumbled an "ok". Her heart pounded. The demon was nowhere in sight, and she didn't know what to expect, which was the most frightening part.

Then, in front of her, just in a split second, the demon materialised.

"DUCK!" Alec yelled, and she did as told, dropping to the ground. Alec swung with all his force at the place where she had just been standing. It struck.

_If I hadn't ducked my head would be rolling on the floor now, _thought Clary with a shiver.

The felled demon turned to ash.

"Wow," was all Clary could manage as she got up. "How did you…how did you think of that?"

Alec smiled wearily. "Standard Shadowhunter strategy," he said, picking debris from Clary's hair. "The demon was always one step out of reach. It was avoiding us, but it also wanted to attack. But demons aren't all that smart. I knew that the minute we stood still he'd go for the weaker one, meaning you, so I planned it this way. He wouldn't expect me to swing at you, so therein was the surprise element. And voila," he said, with a flourish of his hand, jokingly.

"You make it sound so easy," she said.

He laughed. "I wish it was."

"Are you ok?" she said, noticing the gash under his throat. It was bleeding, but not heavily.

"Yeah, nothing an _iratze _can't fix," he said. He looked down at her arms. "That looks pretty bad," he said, sucking in breath.

"It looks worse than it feels," said Clary, trying not to focus on her arms and the burning pain. If she was going to be a Shadowhunter, she had to learn to take knocks like a Shadowhunter.

"You're a terrible liar, Clary Fray," said Alec, and they both laughed.

They were both so attuned to one another, or so it seemed to Clary, that they had shut everything else out. Now, looking around the eerily quiet, deserted stage, she realised what was amiss. Alec was the first one to say it, his smile fading into a frown as he said it.

"Where's Jace?"

But Jace was nowhere to be seen, and neither, thought Clary, was the fourth demon.


	8. Chapter 8

"I need you to stay here, Clary," said Alec, out of breath from the fight. "I'm going to issue a call to the other Shadowhunters, and they'll come get you. This building isn't safe."

"But…Jace."

"I'll find Jace. Look, you're hurt and you don't have any weapons."

"I have my stele."

"That's hardly enough. Trust me on this one."

She wanted to argue with him, to plead. Anything was better than not knowing where Jace was, or if he was hurt, or if he was still…_alive_. No, she didn't want to think about that. She was looking at her sleeves which were torn to shreds and blood was dripping from one of them quite quickly. She didn't care. She wanted to fight, she wanted to —

When she looked up, Alec had already gone. He had slipped out so quickly and quietly. She felt a pang, from her heart and not her wounds.

"Alec!" she called out, but to no reply. She checked behind the curtain, but there was no sign of him.

She had a choice. Stay here and probably be taken home, to wait at the institute to find out how everything went down, where the Senator's wife was, and what happened to Jace. Or she could try and catch up with Alec.

The choice was simple. But her hand was bleeding profusely. She ripped off what remained of her dress sleeve, and tied it up so the bleeding would stop. It would do for now.

She ran after Alec. The backstage area was an endless maze of corridors and dead ends, her footsteps magnified in the eerie silence of it all. She wanted to call out to them but was afraid of attracting something else, something non human. She was unarmed, after all.

She was about to call off her search, after looking in yet another empty dressing room. The corridor was shrouded in half darkness, and her fear seemed to be getting the better of her. _I guess I'll return back to the stage, do what was asked of me for once. _The other shadowhunters were probably looking for her.

As she turned to leave the door at the far end of the corridor caught her eye. It was the dressing room of the leading star; the door was shut but light was seeping from under the cracks. _Well maybe I'll check this last one_, she thought.

As she neared closer she thought she heard sounds coming from inside the room, or maybe that was her imagination. But she definitely felt something. Trying to suppress all her fear, she touched the doorknob. This could be just another empty room, but all her senses told her otherwise. Gathering strength, she took a deep breath, and opened the door.

The sight of what she saw sent her head reeling, and it took all of her strength just to stand upright.

There, at the far end of the room, under the dressing table, lay Jace. And crouched on top of him was an Iblis demon.

Clary choked back sobs as she tried to plead with the demon.

"Please," she said. "Please. Don't hurt him." She was weaponless and alone. "Take me instead!"

She didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a try. Anything was worth a try. And she honestly, genuinely thought that if the demon killed her, and in the process stalled Jace's death and gave him a fighting chance, it was worth it. Because Jace was far more a valuable Shadowhunter than she'd ever be. Would the others even find them down here? In time to save Jace's life? The Iblis demon didn't reply.

It only stared at her, its cold dead eyes burning yellow as its claws closed around an unconscious Jace's throat. The demon tightened its grip on Jace. That was when Clary let out a shrill scream.

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**A/N: sorry it took me so long to get this up! it's been months, i know! i'll be faster with the next chapter, i promise. please leave reviews, they make me happy as a kitten! much love ^.^**


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